Dine Around: Asia One a great 'sit-down' Asian restaurant

Wednesday

Jun 4, 2014 at 3:14 PMJun 4, 2014 at 3:20 PM

On second visit, Japanese food was more impressive.

Dan MedeirosThe Herald News

A great sit-down Chinese restaurant is a rare and beautiful thing. I’m not talking about quickie take-out joints — I mean sit down, soak in the exotic atmosphere and dive into a scorpion bowl the size of a hubcap. It’s been 13 years since China Royal closed, and Fall Riverites still pine for it today.

I have vague memories of the China Royal — rubbing the belly of a Buddha statue, seeing Polynesian fire dancers, giggling at the phrase “pu-pu platter” continuously from ages 6 to 33 — so I was excited when Asia One Bistro opened near Globe Corners a year ago. Asia One may not have a floor show with fire dancing, but it does have an array of Chinese-American favorites, a full take-out menu, a bar, a hibachi grill and freshly made sushi, a favorite of mine. The menu is so large, in fact — eight or 10 pages, with another four-page drinks list — that my wife, daughter and I visited twice to wrap our heads around it all.

The interior is decorated in deep red, gold and black. There is no potbellied Buddha statue within rubbing distance of the front door, but the decor is tasteful, understated and classy. Asia One features a well-stocked bar — and yes, mai tais and scorpion bowls are on the menu. Near the bar is a hibachi grill, always a treat. We opted for a table, and while the waitress neglected to offer us a toddler chair, my girl had a fun time bouncing on the bench seat against the windows overlooking Father Kelly Park.

“I should’ve brought a bookmark,” I said, flipping through page after page. When faced with a paralyzing amount of variety, I did what I always do: order the usual, a General Tso’s chicken combination plate ($8.50).

My wife ordered the beef with broccoli combination plate ($8), and we split some sushi, the dragon roll with shrimp tempura ($11) and the Philadelphia roll, salmon and cream cheese ($5.50). There are no kid-specific options, so we asked for a small plate for my daughter and shared our meals with her.

“I’m allergic to peanuts,” my wife told our waitress, having noticed a few items with nut ingredients on the menu. “I can’t have anything with nuts or that comes near nuts.”

The waitress didn’t quite understand, and after a few moments asked, “So no MSG?”

“No, nuts — peanuts, tree nuts, any kind of nut. So if you could tell the chef?” The waitress nodded and left, and my wife, well-versed in dealing with moments like this, gauged correctly that her suggestion hadn’t taken. She figured it was probably more of a mild situation Benadryl would fix than an EpiPen emergency, and checked her purse to make sure she had some on hand.

Our food arrived promptly, sushi first. The rolls were plump, well-formed and delicious, with sticky rice that was the perfect texture. I pulled a piece of shrimp tempura out of a dragon roll and handed it to my 20-month-old daughter, just to see her reaction — she immediately went to town on it, then dove both fists into my wife’s fried rice.

The Chinese entrees were so-so. The General Tso’s chicken was mostly breading, but the rice was light, flavorful and not too salty. As we left Asia One, we were more impressed with the sushi, which was much better than we’d expected. It was enough to demand a second visit to tackle more of the menu — even though my wife had a nut reaction that gave her a sore throat and put her in a Benadryl coma all afternoon.

Our second visit a week or so later, we wised up and asked for a toddler seat — and the food kept my girl sitting in it the entire time. My wife had the nut-allergy conversation with a different waitress, and got the same strange “No MSG?” reply instead. Like the first visit, my wife steeled herself for an allergic reaction.

We started with the favorite of all little boys: the pu-pu platter ($13).

“There’s no little fire,” I said. “I remember the one at China Royal had a flaming can of Sterno in the middle.”

“It’s probably unsafe to do that these days,” she said, and we all tucked into the wontons, crab rangoons and half a dozen other items in the box. The spareribs were a standout, succulent and full of flavor, and the sheer amount of food made it a great value.

Having been impressed before, I stuck to just sushi, ordering the dragon roll ($11), spicy tuna and salmon rolls ($7.50) and a Fall River roll ($12), delightfully spicy with white tuna on the inside and fish tempura, eel sauce and roe on the outside. My wife tried a bento box with chicken teriyaki ($10.50), which was lightly seasoned and came with enough sides to fill her up. We tried far from everything on the menu, but it seems like the Japanese options are definitely your best bet.

All told, our second visit came to $62 before the tip, and we left rubbing our full bellies like potbellied Buddhas. As we walked back to our car, we noticed Asia One still has “Grand Opening” signs on the windows, even after a year. It’s probably time to take those down and stick around for a while.

Dine Out’s reviewer visits restaurants unannounced and at his or her discretion. The newspaper pays for the meals reviewed. The reviews merely reflect one diner’s experience. Ratings range from 1 to 5 stars.